Spice in the Kitchen: Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes (Sunchokes)

I like to experiment in the kitchen. I have seen sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes, lots of times at Whole Foods, but shied away from buying them because they looked too complicated to peel. Well, I gave in the other day and bought one. After cleaning out my refrigerator today, I realized that I better find out what to do with that bumpy thing before it went bad. Poking around on the internets, I found some really easy recipes and decided to just simply roast it. It was delicious! A slightly nutty, earthy, artichokey flavor. A good side dish for a meal of tempeh and greens. We had it with a cranberry/apple chutney (should have just made it all apple) and sautéed Swiss chard. What a nice, light lunch! They are very high in iron, a perfect food for vegetarians.

Roasted Sunchokes (vegan, gluten free)serves 2

Ingredients

2 baseball sized sunchokes, scrubbed really well with a brush

1-2 TB olive oil

Salt, to taste (I used pink Himalayan sea salt.)

Directions

Thinly slice the sunchoke (The skin has the best flavor, so don't peel it!)

Toss with olive oil and salt.

Place a single layer of the sunchokes on a baking dish. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until they start to brown. That's it! Easy!